The German Society for Immunology (DGfI) awarded Professor Petra Bacher the Georges Köhler Prize on September 27, 2023. The prize, which is endowed with 3,000 euros, is awarded to scientists with a doctorate and an independent profile whose work has made an outstanding contribution to a better understanding of the immune system or has created resulting applications. The award ceremony took place during the joint annual conference of the Société Française d'Immunologie and the German Society for Immunology in Strasbourg.
Petra Bacher received the award for her research into the role of antigen-specific CD4+T cells. These cells, also known as T helper cells, play a central role in the immune response against foreign antigens. One focus of Petra Bacher's research is on the interaction of the immune system with the microbiome, i.e. the microorganisms living in and on our bodies. Inappropriate or excessive immune reactions against the microbiota can contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. However, how protective immunity against the microbiota is maintained or disrupted and which microbial species drive pathogenic T cell responses is not known in many clinical situations.
Petra Bacher has been Professor of Immunology and Immunogenetics at the Faculty of Medicine at Kiel University (CAU) since July 2018. Since 2023, she has held a Schleswig-Holstein Excellence Professorship, which is based at the Institute of Immunology and the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology at Kiel University and the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (UKSH).
